Dear All,
My name is Atul Sanghal and I lead carbon advisory work at Emergent Ventures, India. EVI is one the leading players in the climate change mitigation area and have done decent work over the past 7 years. Recently I was introduced to SuSanA and found some very useful information on faecal sludge management. We are currently studying this area internally and seeking inputs from experts globally.

During my discussion with one of the research companies in Japan, I came across hydro thermal treatment technology which could potentially be used for drying FS before it is taken for further treatment for resource recovery e.g. incineration, pyrolysis or gasification etc. This company has tried chicken waste to produce fuel quality output.

As you know FS is high on moisture and drying it would be the first requirement before its use for resource recovery (at least in some of them). Have you seen similar trails elsewhere in the world and more specifically for FS. What is your experience and do you find it worthwhile to explore it further?

Welcome to the forum, it is good to have you on here with your interesting background!

There is so much stuff going on right now with Faecal Sludge Management, it is hard to keep up with all the new publications and research... I think any of the technically more challenging processes of FS treatment (like hydrothermal treatment) run into difficulties because there is not so much money and attention in the sector yet. Plus all the solid waste that is mixed in with the faecal sludge...

But have you seen this report which I recently uploaded to the SuSanA library after having received it from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who funded the study?

The sources of investor caution can be traced to a combination of factors like regulatory and policy challenges (for instance, the heavy subsidies for solar energy and the variability of tariffs for renewable energy projects across states); logistical issues (for example, the significant constraints to reliable and predictable availability of feedstock for waste to energy plants); and the near absence of business models that lend themselves to scale and sustainability – particularly models that combine revenue streams from power sales, renewable energy credits and bio-­‐waste applications like fertilizers. Consequently, there is limited interest even in technology research and development for waste to energy as the business applications are unclear. All these factors are further compounded for fecal sludge to energy (FS2E), which is a marginal topic even for those currently invested in the W2E sector.